An elite soldier has told the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial that he used the prosthetic leg of a dead Afghan man as a drinking vessel to help him "decompress" and "bond" with fellow soldiers.
The Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) member, codenamed Person 14, was called as a witness by publisher Nine Entertainment in its bid to establish a truth defence to Mr Roberts-Smith's case over stories it published in 2018.
Mr Roberts-Smith denies allegations reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times, including unlawful killings in Afghanistan, bullying and domestic violence.
One of the allegations in the articles involved a mission in Afghanistan in 2009, when SAS operators were clearing a compound known as Whiskey 108.
Mr Roberts-Smith has denied the allegation that he carried a man with a prosthetic leg outside the compound, threw him on the ground, and shot him 10 to 15 times with a light machine gun.
Person 14 has previously given evidence, saying the prosthetic leg was then used as a novelty drinking vessel by soldiers at an unauthorised bar, the Fat Ladies Arms, at a Special Operations base in Afghanistan.
Photos of soldiers drinking from the prosthetic were leaked to the media and published in the articles at the centre of the defamation case.
Person 14 today told the Federal Court that he drank from the prosthetic leg as a coping mechanism but never thought of it as a war "trophy".
"It helped me decompress, let off steam, bond," he said.
"[It was] a high-tempo life, high pace, never knew when your last day was coming."
He said soldiers of all ranks drank from the leg and that he had cheered them on.
The soldier said the leg was then brought back to Australia and framed by an unnamed colleague which was in breach of rules around removing war "souvenirs".
Mr Roberts-Smith has previously told the court that he owned a glass shaped like the prosthetic leg and today person 14 confirmed he owned the same glass.
Today, Person 14 told the court that drinking at the Fat Ladies Arms was a regular occurrence, and that he got drunk there at a colleague's 50th birthday party in 2009.
During cross-examination of Person 14 Mr Roberts-Smith's lawyer, Arthur Moses SC, suggested that there were times that drinking had impacted the patrol group's ability to complete missions.
But Person 14 flatly rejected this: "That never happened."
Person 14 has told the Federal Court he saw an unidentified Australian soldier shoot the Afghan man with the prosthetic leg by using a "distinctive" light machine gun and later saw Mr Roberts-Smith, who denies all wrongdoing, carrying the same type of weapon.
The witness has claimed he also saw Mr Roberts-Smith direct, through an interpreter, the execution of an unarmed Afghan man during a mission in 2012.
But Mr Moses has accused of him lying and suggested the soldier had come to court to throw Mr Roberts-Smith "under the bus any way you can".
Person 14 previously told the court he overheard a colleague speaking about an aim to "blood the rookie" before a mission in 2009, which he understood to mean a person on their first deployment recording a kill in action.
Last week, the witness said the comment took place when the majority of the troop was present, however Mr Roberts-Smith was not.
Today, he said Mr Roberts-Smith was present but not directly part of the conversation.
"You lied to the judge on Friday?" barrister Arthur Moses SC, for Mr Roberts-Smith, asked.
Person 14 denied lying.
"You have come here to throw Mr Roberts-Smith under the bus any way you can, haven't you?" Mr Moses said.
"No," Person 14 replied.
The trial, before Justice Anthony Besanko continues.
